Not Identical
by Zilan
Summary: Ash's Bayleef evolves into a Meganium. Is everyone happy with that? Of course! Well, except for Sceptile. Sceptile becomes depressed and angry by the mere existence of Meganium. He thinks that she will be just like...just like the Meganium he met, a long time ago. But will she?
1. Oranges over Apples

**Well, this is my first fanfic story. The first chapter, I know, sounds _nothing_ like what this _should_ be about according to the summary, but I am not very good at introductions, and it usually takes me some time to get into the main plotline. I am very sorry about this. Anyways, please review and let me know if I missed out on any of Ash's pokemon before he left for Sinnoh, cause I kinda don't remember much :)**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy this first chapter. The first half is just because I just wanted to create a scene where all of Ash's pokemon just... live together.**

**—-**

It's been a while since Ash left his Hoenn pokemon at Oak's Lab in Kanto.

So… what were they all doing?

'No, noo, no, if you do that again, I will - don't you dare - AAAAAAAAAHH!'

So while Bulbasaur was vine whipping Heracross for sucking on his bulb, yet again, Kingler, Muk, Cyndaquil, and Totodile were fighting over who could cut an apple in half the best. Moments ago, a Hoppip and an Oddish asked them to cut it for them, so… well, the argument continues.

'But they asked me first~' Cyndaquil cried.

'Well, they only did that 'cause you looked less threatening!' Kingler sighed.

'Hey, how is that a bad thing~?' Cyndaquil sweat dropped.

'Oh, this is such a GREAT sign of FRIENDSHIP!' Torkoal sobbed, coming out of nowhere, 'A group of old friends… the arguing and fighting are all a cover for an undeniable friendship between you guys… it's just so BEAUTIFUL to see -'

'Yeah, yeah, nice and all, but I'm going to wash my face now,' Totodile said.

'I am SO sorry for the smoke but -'

'Okay, we get it.'

Swellow and Corphish were battling each other over who was a better fighter. As Swellow prepared its Wing Attack, Glalie hit it with an Ice Beam for no reason at all.

'STOP CHASING ME!' Bulbasaur yelled.

'Seriously, just give ME the stupid apple!' Kingler sighed again.

'NOOOOOOO~!' Cyndaquil cried.

'It's not my fault! I can't control Ice Beams!' Glalie laughed at Swellow.

'… Let's just find an orange,' Oddish whispered to Hoppip and ran away, using the ability run away?

And Noctowl was sleeping.

—-

Well, amidst all the great fun that they, or some of them, at least, were having, Sceptile leaned back on a tree and watched. With his arms folded. And with a twig in his mouth. And with the thought that this was terribly fun to watch.

—-

Bayleef walked around the property doing nothing much, really, until she heard the voices of pokemon becoming louder and louder, and then, human voices. Voices that sounded familiar. She raced towards the sound.

—-

Team Rocket launched the fat meowthalloon on the field.

"Prepare for trouble... and make it d-**owww**!" James cried. Muk was happily hugging him.

"Hey, back off, filthy pokemon… thing… slime…? Whatever, we're here to, as you all know by now, steal anything we can~!" Jessie smiled widely. "Now, where is that -"

"WOOOOBBUFFET."

"No. Not you."

"_Wobb_..."

"Get back in your little pokeball!" Meowth said, "Ahem, anyways, since that twerp and the tall twerp along with the new twerp's all busy catchin' them pokemon from Sinnoh, we thowght of this genius plan. Dumb twerps would never've thowght we'd come and get all _ya_ little poketwerps. 'Tis only a plan worthy of Team Rocket," Meowth smirked, tapping his foot.

'Hey, aren't those the two Ash always tells us to fight?' Heracross asked.

'Yeaaaaah, it got kind of boring after a few times,' Swellow said.

'Well, what are they up to now?' Torkoal sniffed.

'You even hear? They said they want to catch _us_ while Ash's in Sinnoh,' Totodile said.

'They always want Ash's pokemon for some reason,' Sceptile came and said.

'What do we do now, then?' Kingler sidewalked towards the commotion.

'Just give 'em a little nudge,' Bulbasaur yawned, 'to, you know, blast them off. Again.'

"...What are they squabbling about..." Jessie stomped her foot, "Dustox, I choose you!"

"Dustox!"

It flew towards Corphish with Poison Sting. Corphish dodged some of it but took most of the attack full on. Corphish was sent backwards but regained balance, swept a Crabhammer, missed, and got a mild Tackle attack from Dustox again. It tried another Crabhammer, hitting Dustox badly. Duxtox sent a badly aimed Poison Sting, missed, and fainted after a Vice Grip from Corphish.

'Your trainer has good skills, to train you guys like this,' Duxtox mumbled.

"Return, Duxtox," Jessie clenched her teeth, said to James, "Let's go. There's plenty of other pokemon here."

Hopped into the meowthalloon, off they went.

'Excuse me...?' A timid Jumpluff appeared.

'Um, I saw a Bayleef fighting with this strange spiky pokemon. I think,' Jumpluff paused, 'it was called a Carnivine.'

'A Bayleef?' Cyndaquil asked. 'Why did you come to us, Jumpluff?'

'I mean, I saw it with this group of pokemon, so I thought I should let you know. But it's nothing to worry about, I mean, I don't think it's very strong. It had these spikes that looked really sharp, but -'

'Let's go!' All the pokemon shouted and stampeded off.

'Um, but, Bayleef is doing well, she's winning, so...there's nothing to worry about, I guess...' Jumpluff looked confused, then she left.

And Noctowl was sleeping.


	2. Overgrow And a Critical Hit

**Here is the second chapter. From this chapter onwards, it starts to sound more like what this story _should _be about, according to the summary. :D Again, sorry for the way-too-long, irrelevant first chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I did not create Pokemon.**

**Anyhow | With that said | I hope you like this second chapter.**

**—-**

"Carnivine, use bullet - mmmffmnff!" James mumbled as Carnivine bit his head, "Okay, I know, I know, now go! Use Bullet Seed!"

"Carn!"

'No you don't~' Bayleef evaded the attack. Bullet Seed was a move easy to dodge on the first time. After a few in succession, it will hit almost for sure; the pokemon will be tired out of jumping around, _and_ during all those bullet seeds, the other pokemon can't use any of their moves if they choose to evade it. Bayleef knew that. So she decided to take the second hit.

'Oof...' Bayleef muttered as the attack hit her. She has to admit, Team Rocket's pokemon _were_ kind of strong; she felt bad that they had Jessie and James as trainers.

Now, she has her chance. Carnivine has to wait for James' order for his next attack. Bayleef stepped back and used Vine Whip. Carnivine, as a relatively slow pokemon, couldn't get away fast enough. As Team Rocket made their wide-eyed unbelieving face, she then fired Razor Leaf at Carnivine but missed.

'Shoot. Missed...' Bayleef sighed. Razor Leaf was one of those moves requiring precision. Once it comes out, it's going in that direction; there's no way of changing the direction, unlike Vine Whip. No matter. She'll try again. But in the meantime, Carnivine had advanced and used Leaf Tornado on her. Bayleef dodged, but the brink of the attack still hit her. Her eyes swirled a bit; the attack caused her accuracy to go down a bit. She felt something strange. Her health was pretty low... She perked up.

"Why aren't you doing anything, little twerpleef? Scared?" Jessie laughed an extremely high-pitched laugh.

'Hmph. I'll show you what Overgrow does,' Bayleef said.

"Go! Use Vine Whip!" James shouted.

As Carnivine threw Vine Whips towards her, the generally precise move missed quite a lot of times. And that was good. Now, she needed to get just a bit closer. She rammed her way near the spiky, green, uh, Victreebel-like thing she's never seen before and used Razor Leaf, once more.

'AAAAGHR!' Carnivine yelped.

'That,' Bayleef said, 'is an Overgrow grass type move.'

'Humph. There's no way that could hit me like that even with your ability.'

Bayleef looked down at him, 'Oh, and also, it was a critical hit.'

Carnivine fainted.

"Carnivine~!" James cried, or sobbed, or bawled, "You...*SNIFF* deserve a good *SOB* rest."

'I can't stand how every trainer _always_ say that,' Bayleef frowned.

"Stop being pathetic. I'm gettin' kinda bored with all these old pokemon. Let's go and have a little chat with that little twerp and see what they've caught. Bet _those_ pokemon are new to us," Meowth put his arms behind his back, "If we wanna impress the boss, we gotta catch 'em all. Big time. We're never gonna -"

"I _hate_ that. _Never. Talk. Like. That. Twerp. Again. Ever._ I absolutely hate how he always says, 'Oh, we gotta catch 'em all~! Meh meh meh~!'" Jessie hit Meowth on the head growled, "What use, tell me, are magikarp or little caterpie or weedle gonna do to impress the boss? Huh? Hm. That twerp always says unbelievable things," She paused, "...Sinnoh... That sounds like a good region. I bet the twerp's already caught a lot of the pokemon there. I WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOW HIM TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN WE ARE!"

"...uh...jessie n-not to disap-point you b-b-but i think they've been m-more successful than w-we were i-i-i-in every sing-g-gle regi-gion," James said extremely quietly and quickly. And stuttery.

With that, Meowth joined Jessie who was dragging James by the ear and flashed into the meowthalloon and took off.

**—-**

As Bayleef watched the meowthalloon slowly drifting away, she began to feel something weird. No...it can't be Overgrow activating _again_, could it? The ability must have faded already by now. It must've. No way it'd come up again. So...

'Hey Bayleef!' Torkoal crawled at top speed towards her, which was, like, your average crawling speed.

'What happened?' Kingler asked.

'Did you see Team Rocket? Where are they?' Heracross started flying all around looking.

'Look, idiot!' Corphish pointed at the meowthalloon, 'they've already been defeated. By none other than our very own BAYLEEF, of course!' He patted, or... more like he hit her.

'Yo Bayleef! A Jumpluff said you were battling a new pokemon!' Totodile jumped excitedly up.

'Was... was it scaaaary~?' Cyndaquil trembled.

'Jumpluff said it was called... Carnivorne or something?' Swellow flew up.

'Hey guys... look at Bayleef...' Bulbasaur said.

'Hm?'

'Oh my...'

'Shush.'

Bayleef was glowing green. She closed her eyes. This felt familiar...

'Hey, what's happening?' She asked.

'You're evolving!' Glalie floated in joy, 'Maybe I'll use Ice -'

Corphish and Swellow knocked him out.

Bayleef's entire body transformed. She grew slightly bigger. The leaf on her head split and gradually became thinner, becoming two antennaes. Her body changed from light yellow to light green, turning back into the colour she had as a Chikorita. She opened her eyes. The light dimmed.

She had evolved into a Meganium.

'OH MY GOODNESS! This is a moment worth celebrating about. This is one of the most IMPORTANT things EVER in a pokemon's LIFETIME! OH MY GOODNESS!' Torkoal cried in joy.

'I swear if you do that again I'll use BUBBLE,' Kingler rubbed smoke out of his eyes.

'...Why not Hydro Pump?' Muk asked.

Kingler whispered, 'Because, I don't know that move yet.'

Muk sweat dropped... or... slime dropped.

Kingler continued whispering, 'Besides, BUBBLE sounds way more threatening, no?'

'...Uh huh. Of course.'

As everyone congratulated Meganium, she felt happy. Very happy. She knew that Torkoal was right. Evolution, expecially into a final stage, was one of the most important things to a pokemon. She remembered, as a Chikorita, how she'd looked up to all the adult Meganiums and thought, how elegant and powerful, at the same time.

She looked upwards at the sky. Some Jumpluff were so happy for her evolution that they spread powders all over the group of pokemon. While all the other pokemon either slept, or stood paralyzed, only Bulbasaur, Bayleef, and Sceptile remained unaffected. After all, they _were_ immune to these moves. This is one of the times where Bulbasaur thinks, 'And other types thought that we were totally useless.'

Bayleef laughed and poked Cyndaquil. She looked up.

And froze.

Sceptile was standing there, away from the group, staring at her like she was Giratina. There was hatred... yes, there was definitely hatred in his eyes, but it was also covering another feeling... A feeling that he was desperate not to let anyone know. Could it be? _F__ear_? In _Sceptile's_ eyes? In the eyes of the pokemon who never... or rarely... feared anything?

Bayleef quickly turned around. Bulbasaur was busy zipping through all the sleeping and paralyzed pokemon, laughing and... drawing over their faces...

Well, Bayleef thought,at least Jigglupuff taught_ someone_ something._  
_

She's glad Bulbasaur and any of the other pokemon didn't notice Sceptile's strange behaviour, though.

Sceptile slowly turned. And walked away. Calmly. Too calmly to be real.

And have a good morning's sleep, Noctowl.


	3. Jigglypuff Strikes Again

**Here is the third chapter. :D**

**Disclaimer: I did not create Pokemon.**

**Anyhow | With that said | I hope you like this third chapter.**

******—-**

It was nighttime. Sceptile walked through the forbiddingly silent forest area of the lab's property. It's been a day since Bayleef evolved into... _that_ pokemon. He didn't want to think about that now. He wished he could never think about that ever again, for the rest of his life.

He knew that was not possible.

He went further into the forest and leaned against a large tree. There was a clearing near the place he's resting at where all his fellow pokemon were having some last bit of fun for the end of the day. At least some were.

Sceptile loved to just sit back and watch everyone else do whatever they were doing. He scanned his eyes over the crowd. Everything looked normal. Well, except for the markings on everyone's faces. Sceptile had never really met Jigglypuff before while travelling with Ash through Hoenn, but he's heard Bulbasaur and the other Kanto and Johto pokemon talk about her a few times. From what he's heard, Jigglypuff appeared to be a large pink round balloon resembling the full moon and who likes to sing, putting everyone to sleep then drawing over their profiles. Because apparently she was mad at _them_ for falling asleep because of _her_. He almost laughed out loud at the thought of a pink moon with a microphone.

He had to admit, Bulbasaur's forging skills _were_ pretty good. The markings looked exactly like what a puffy balloon would draw: stars, swirly circles, hearts, cat whiskers, glasses, and balloons. He knew for a fact that Heracross, Glalie, Cyndaquil, and Torkoal still thought that the actual Jigglypuff had visited them during their dreams, or nightmares, whichever one they were having, during yesterday's...

_No!_ Sceptile frowned. He couldn't think about that now. Admittedly, though, he didn't even _know_ that Bayleef evolves into Meganium. Bayleef's sudden evolution yesterday had left him -

'Um, heeey... Uh... so! Um, nice weather... eh...?'

Meganium was a couple of meters away from him, looking at the extremely cloudy sky in a way that clearly told him that she didn't _really_ care about the weather. He jumped away from her immediately, albeit more clumsily than any other time he'd jumped away from something. Was he embarrassed because of this? He tried not to show that. Especially not in front of the pokemon species who literally broke his - he snapped out of his thoughts.

In a voice so cold and crisp, surprising everyone in the surrounding area who's known him for even just a short while, Sceptile said, '... Don't talk to me ever again. You hear?'

With that, he turned and walked calmly away from the scene, much like the way he walked away when Bayleef evolved. Again, it was too calm. Way too calm to be real.

'...What's up with that guy?' Corphish asked, clearly annoyed, 'What did she even do to him?'

'...Maybe...he's jealous?' Heracross asked.

'Why would he be jealous? It's not like he can evolve again,' Kingler thought, 'unless he's jealous because Ash might get Meganium on his team again.'

'I don't think so,' Swellow said, 'It's true that Sceptile likes to battle and travel with Ash, but... he just doesn't seem like the kind to be jealous of little things that probably won't even happen, like _that.'_

'Has it ever occurred to you guys that maybe he's just in a bad mood, and that it has nothing to do with her?!' Totodile slapped each of them on the back.

'Watch it!' Heracross chased Totodile off.

'You know, he might be right. Maybe Sceptile's just in a bad mood. Let's not think too much about it,' Muk came - or rather, _slid_ up, 'I don't think he's angry because of Meganium.'_  
_

'Yeah.'

'That's probably right.'

'He'll get over it.'

'I hope Meganium understands...'

'Where is Meganium?'

'I think she left...'

'She must feel really sad right now...'

'Or angry.'

'We should go and find her.'

'Yeah. To, you know, make sure she's not crying a river.'

'Let's go then,' Bulbasaur said.

******—-**

She sighed. As mean and rude as his words were, she wasn't too surprised, or sad, or even remotely angry at Sceptile's actions. Ever since Ash sent his Hoenn pokemon back here at Professor Oak's lab, she always knew that Sceptile was the serious, cold one of the group. Yet, as time passed, he proved to be considerably nice and friendly towards those he knew, including herself. It was always just new pokemon and people that he was awkward and uncomfortable around with.

So... why was he like... _that_ back at the forest clearing?

This was the real part that confused her. It wasn't like him to act that unnatural around her, someone he's known for quite some time already.

She remembered the first few weeks with the Hoenn pokemon around. At that time, she was really intrigued with all of them. That one looks just like Kingler... That other one looks kinda scary... And that one seemed way...too...happy... _way_ too happy... She got to know all of them; but... Sceptile took a little more time to get comfortable with. After that, though, he and her were on completely good terms.

She did remember, however, when she was still a Bayleef, the few times where he looked at her, confused, as though trying to remember something. When asked whether he was okay, he just replied that she looked a lot like someone... she reminded him of someone... but he didn't quite know who she reminded him of, and how.

She frowned. Maybe her evolved form has something to do with -

'Hey! Yo! Sauropod!' Glalie yelled, his voice loud and clear in the deadly still night.

Meganium's antennae-things stood upright. 'I'm _not_ a sauropod! I've told you before, dinosaurs are extinct already! Honestly, I thought that a pokemon with a head for its _entire_ body should be smarter than this!'

'... Um. ... Actually, you _are_ a -'

'Yes, _thank you_, Glalie. Anyways, you okay?' Corphish asked as he and Swellow knocked Glalie out. Again.

'...What do you mean?' Meganium asked.

'Well, you know, um... about... Sceptile...' Cyndaquil hopped up on her back, 'he was very mean to you~~~~'

'Yeah, I know... But I'm cool with that. I know he doesn't really mean it,' she said.

'Really?'

'We knew you would forgive him!'

'And you did!'

'That guy should be thankful that you're his friend.'

'If it were me, I'd killed him by now.'

'Let's go back now.'

'Sceptile's gonna be fine by tomorrow.'

'Uh, _Sceptile_? ...For sure he is.'

'...Well, we have to _assume_...'

'Tomorrow, let's just all pretend that the whole thing didn't happen, 'kay?'

'Good idea.'

And with that, everyone went back without second thoughts.

And slept peacefully.

As Noctowl woke up.

******—-**

Meganium looked at the night sky. She could see several bright starts. It was very clear.

But her thoughts weren't.

She still didn't get Sceptile's actions earlier this day.

... Ah... whatever... she was really tired.

She concluded that it must be, as Totodile explained to her, that Sceptile was in a bad mood. Who knows, maybe he's just irritated because of the "Jigglypuff drawings". And nothing else. Nothing personal against her.

...

Right?

**—-**

**After writing a few chapters, I feel that the update schedule for this story will probably be around two times a week. So yeah, just thought I'd mention that. :D Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	4. Dreams or Nightmares?

**Here is the fourth chapter. :D**

**Disclaimer: I did not create Pokemon.**

******Anyhow | With that said | I hope you like this fourth chapter.**

**************—-**

_Everything was kind of hazy... it appears as if a cool mist was encircling the world around him... He couldn't hear anyone else very clearly either._

_Wait... there _isn't_ anyone here._

_But the scenery here looks familiar... A large tree... Grassy fields all around... A bit of dry land just underneath the shadows of the tree... Hmm... And there was also a large building some distance away... Some Caterpie and Bellsprout were trotting and hopping along a few yards away. Pidgeys flew by silently in the sky._

_Ah. So... it is still Kanto that he is in._

_Well. Now he remembers. He has been here before, when he travelled with Ash to the Battle Frontier. Wasn't this the place... where... he_ evolved?

_So that must mean this is also the place where... she -_

_'?'_

_Great. Speak of the devil._

_'Um... hello? Who are you? What are you doing here?' It was her._

_The one who had broken his heart. The one who made him lose faith. The one who he hated, so very much, ever since then. And he still does._

_She had a nice name. Kenza. She also looked good. And that was what he had fallen for the first time he saw her. Nothing else. Just because she looked good._

_Hah. How foolish he was back then. He's never going to make that mistake ever again._

_Well, at least he hoped so._

_'Uh...! Can you, like, hear me? Hey listen -' s__he came towards him casually._

_Then he turned to face her, and when she saw who he was, she stopped abruptly, expressing shock. Her face changed. Changed from pleasant and welcoming to... to an expression that was hard to figure. It was like anger... her clenched teeth clearly meant that. It was also like sadness... her eyes clearly showed that. Yet it was also like... happiness? Could she possibly be _happy _to see _him?_  
_

_Hmm. Could she have changed her feelings towards him? Wait... but... that was no possible. There was still that... Tropi -_

_Aaagghh...! He shouldn't be thinking about this._

_'Look. I don't know how I came here, but -' he tried, he really tried to be cold, yet his cold voice was cut off by her even icier tone._

_'I don't want to hear you talking about yourself and how and why you came here. You shouldn't be here. Go away.' Kenza turned to leave. She paused, turned back, frowned, and said, 'Besides, who cares about you?'_

_She shot him a freezing stare. Her eyes... when did they turn so cold?_

_He bent his head down. He hoped that she thought it was neck pain or something. Hmmm... did Pokemon even _have_ neck pain?_

_He smiled weakly. But what was the real reason he looked down? It was a bit of a shock even to himself._

_Warm tears were starting to leak out of his eyes. They haven't come out completely yet. Still, they were there. He could feel it. He was crying. He did not want anyone else to see it. And he wanted them to go away. Fast._

_He willed his eyes to dry, and__ looked up. She was gone already._

_The fog turned heavier. He swiped at it. It didn't help. He couldn't see at all now. He was beginning to get kind of worried about how he's going to get back. He sure didn't want to stay here._

_Out of the blue - er, rather, _mist_, a sound continued to echo._

_'Who cares about you?'_

_It seemed to become louder. Then gradually even louder. Then even louder... It was pounding in his ears. He covered them and shouted something he wasn't quite sure if it was true or not._

'I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU EITHER!'

'What. Is. Wrong. With. YOU!' Corphish screamed in his ear, and along with everyone else's, of course.

Sceptile's eyes jerked open.

'Huh?' He growled.

'Uhem... excuse me? In case you weren't noticing _yourself_, you just yelled something completely stupid, like, loud enough to wake... let's see,' Cyndaquil paused, turned, and started to count Pokemon awoken by the now infamous yell.

'One Beedrill, two Caterpie, one Wingull, five Girafarigs, a Sentret, two Shuckles, some Misdreavus, three Vileplumes... and, uh, et cetera, et cetera.'

'... What does that mean?' Muk asked.

'...It means I'm too tired to count anymore~~' Cyndaquil glared with his eyes closed, somehow, at Sceptile, 'because _someone_ decided to wake me up at four o'clock in the morning.' Cyndaquil, like everyone else, then went straight back to snoring and dreaming their amazingly lovely dreams.

Unlike Noctowl. Who was having dinner.

**************—-**

Sceptile couldn't go back to sleep. Not after what he's been through in his disastrous dream.

When was the last time he cried?

Did he _ever_ cry in his entire lifetime, not counting the dream?

He didn't think he did.

He ran into the forest, still dark with some light fog and rain, and sat down against a tree.

Now he finally knows what it feels like to be crying like that. And... even though it shocked him badly that he actually cried... it didn't feel bad... it felt relieving... like all the burdens on his shoulders were gone...

But they weren't. He was extremely confused and heavy-hearted about _why_ he cried. He couldn't, he just couldn't _possibly_ still have feelings for... Kenza... could he...? After she made him lose the ability to do his most basic attacks? After she embarrassed him in front of everyone he knew at that time? After she made him go through one of the worst feelings one could have in one's entire lifetime?

He sincerely hoped that the reason he cried was _not_ because of _her_ insult. So, what else could it be then?

This thought haunted him for the rest of the night.

Because, honestly, he couldn't think of any other reason why he might've cried.

**—-**

'BUBBLE!'

'AAARRGGHH! STOP IT! THAT HURT SO... huh...?' Torkoal paused, and stopped sobbing, '...Fail. That felt like nothing.' He crawled away as quickly as he can. Which was kind of slow.

'... I told you you should've used Hydro Pump,' Muk sighed, 'Oh, right... you don't know it yet.'

Kingler shook his fist - uh, pincer, at Torkoal, 'Everyone just lets him get away every single time he gets our faces burned!' Kingler smashed his pincers together. 'Oww...'

'GIVE THAT PEACH BACK~~~!' Cyndaquil stamped his foot at Totodile.

On the other side of the field...

'C'mon. We're taking you to the lab. And you are going to _stay_ there. For ever,' Corphish seethed, dragging Glalie with him and brushing bits of fresh ice off his head, with Swellow angrily following.

Everything was so peaceful. In a way.

**—-**

"... Okay. What's our plan?"

"I have spent hours drawing this amazing battle plan. Have a look."

"... Doesn't look all that complicated."

"Let's see you make one, then. Anyways, we land on the field. Sneak inside the Pokemon Center. Catch the pokemon inside. Leave."

"What kind of plan is that? We don't have any backup plan, any secret weapons, spying, or any of that sneaky detectivy stuff! We don't even have a machine!"

"... We've run out of money."

"But don't worry. Team Rocket always succeeds."

**—-**

**I am very sorry for the late update! And also, just in case you don't know yet, speech with " means human talk, and speech with ' means pokemon talk. :D Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	5. The Wayward Wobbly Wobbuffet

**Here is the fifth chapter. :D**

**Disclaimer: I did not create Pokemon.**

**Anyhow | With that said | I hope you like this fifth chapter.**

**—-**

'Seriously?! Are you saying it's my fault that I just happened to crash into you?' Swellow screamed at Glalie in front of Professor Oak and Tracey, who were standing there, enduring the incomprehensible pokemon conversation before them.

'... Yes,' Glalie said.

'Well, okay, it's kind of my fault but you DIDN'T HAVE TO CHANGE THE WEATHER TO _HAIL_, WHICH ALSO KIND OF KILLS FLYING TYPES, YA KNOW?!'

'But the most important thing is that I have ice in my pincers now and -' Corphish explained.

'No one cares about your pincers,' Swellow snapped.

'I used them to defeat Team Rocket that time when Bayl -' Corphish gulped.

'...'

'...'

'...'

'_are you stupid?! he's standing right there, and i don't think he's in any better mood than he was yesterday!'_ Swellow whispered.

Out of the corners of their eyes, Sceptile stood watching them. He knew what they were talking about. He knew what everyone was talking about.

But he also knew that they still haven't found an answer to _why_ he was acting so strange towards Meganium, and everyone in general.

The only other pokemon that knew about that miserable event was...

Pikachu. Ash's Pikachu.

Pikachu was the only pokemon of Ash's who sees everything. And by everything, he meant, _everything_, not just that time when Kenza rejected him.

So, since he was pretty confident that Pikachu and Ash aren't about to return to Kanto from Sinnoh anytime soon, he was also pretty confident that no one will find out about his past.

Which he did not want to think about, ever again.

Because he has a terrible feeling that there was no reason that he cried in his dream other than the fact that he still likes Kenza.

Who he hates so very, very much.

**—-**

Nurse Joy -

Hm. That doesn't sound right.

_A_ Nurse Joy. Yes, that's more like it. A Nurse Joy of a not-that-well-known place slept peacefully. All of a sudden, she heard...

"Bellsprout bellsprout!"

"Goldeen gold!"

"Oooooodish!"

"Rrrrattatta...!"

There must be something wrong downstairs. The ill pokemon should be sleeping. Unless someone disturbed them. But that couldn't possibly be possible. It's four o'clock in the morning. Of course, that's a perfect time for burglars, but -

_CRASH!_

She couldn't believe she was actually right for once. She hurried downstairs and gasped.

In front of the main hallway were three figures. And they looked suspicous. And familiar. Very familiar.

"Pidgeot, I choose you!" the Nurse Joy shouted.

"Cacnea, go!"

"Idiot! It's a flying type!"

"Oh... but, I HAVE FAITH IN YOU, CACNEA! YOU CAN DO IT!"

"Just like it did with most of its battles against the twerps."

"Hmph."

"Pidgeot, Gust attack!" Nurse Joy commanded.

Pidgeot swooped in a huge circle and went out the door onto the field, Cacnea following closely. Immediately, Pidgeot flew at extreme speed around Cacnea, using its wings to create massive currents of wind, heading straight towards Cacnea. Cacnea couldn't avoid it in time because of its slowness, and it got thrown into the air because of the attack and landed on its face. It got up and fired Pin Missiles at the soaring Pidgeot.

Pin Missile works the same way as Bullet Seed, and after seeing Carnivine getting defeated by Bayleef, Cacnea was hoping to make Pidgeot use up its energy dodging the Pin Missiles rather than taking a hit. Pidgeot, having a lot of experience in battles as well, wasn't about to get fooled by its pathetic plan. Taking the third hit, and as Cacnea stopped and frantically tried to fire another set of Pin Missiles as fast as possible, Pidgeot slashed a Wng Attack towards Cacnea with incredible speed.

The great bird's wings started to glow a blinding white and flashed in front of Cacnea, hitting it hard, immdediately knocking it out, as swirly circles started to appear on its face.

"I told you it wouldn't do any good against that bird!" Jessie screamed at James.

Meowth tapped her on the foot, "Hey... Jessie. Pidgeot has extremely strong attacks, eh? So, Jessie? _Strong attacks._"

Jessie thought for a moment and smirked. She knew exactly what Meowth was talking about.

"It's not over yet, doctor!" She said to Nurse Joy loudly.

"I choose you. Wobbuffet!"

"WOOOOOOBBUFFET."

The silent Nurse Joy backed away. She's heard about this... rather peculiar pokemon from her fourth cousin working in Azalea Town, Johto. It was... unlike most other pokemon.

"... Pidgeot, return."

"Hah. Now what are you going to send out, huh?" James laughed.

"I... I choose you, Meganium."

**—-**

Back at Professor Oak's laboratory, night was starting to fall upon all the pokemon. The curving moon hanged in the sky, giving off a sense of tranquility, especially during this time, when the fields, forests, lakes, and skies were completely, utterly silent.

Tired and weared out by nearly everything that has happened to her in the past few days, Ash's Meganium was ready to sleep for eternity, or until Ash decides to get either her or Sceptile on his team again. But not if both of them are.

She grinded her teeth. What did he have that made it okay for him to do whatever he wanted? Oh, what, maybe because he's better trained as a pokemon? Or maybe because of the fact that his species is somehow better than hers? Or maybe even because he thinks she evolved just to get attention, and so now he thinks she's despicable?

Well, the first two reasons aren't even true at all. And she didn't evolve just to get _attention. _She would never do that. Besides, how can you time your evolution? Like, that was impossible.

The more she thought about it, the angrier and sadder she got.

She kicked a bush. That didn't help.

**—-**

From far away in the night air, a resounding laugh travelled across the entire lab property.

"Ahaaaahaahahahaa~"

'What in the world is wrong with those humans?!' Heracross muttered.

'They're probably never going to stop disturbing us, so I think you should stop complaining because that is the only thing we can do right now,' Muk explained to him.

'I _don't_ care! They're the ones who's wrong, why should _we_ -'

_CLUNK!_

Everyone gathered around to see what was it that had broken the peaceful silence of the night, ready to do whatever it took to shoo them out of the lab property.

The pokemon formed a lousy circle around the tattered, ripped remains of what seemed suspiciously like...

'What's a balloon doing here?'

Three figures stepped out into the spotlight. They carried a glass box that looked like it had a ton of security protecting it, with all its glamorous and shining metal locks, codes, shock-proof and compression-tension resistant walls, and anything else you can imagine. It didn't look like something the people that carried it would be able to make. It looked stolen.

And in that box was a pokeball. With a medical cross sign on the front.

At almost the exact same time, the phone rang in the lab.

**—-**

"Hello? Tracey Sketchit speaking."

"Hi, Tracey! It's Ash!"

"Oh, hi, Ash. Everything going okay in Sinnoh?"

"Yeah. It's great. So, I just wanted to check in with all my pokemon here. So, can I send Pikachu over for just today and tomorrow to let it tell the pokemon about Sinnoh?"

"Sure... uh, Ash? You're... sending _Pikachu_?"

"Yeah! Only for today and tomorrow, remember, though."

The transfer machine hummed and started working.

And on the outside, the grassy field was about to turn into a battlefield.

**—-**

**Okay, I apologize for saying that I'd update twice a week. Now I finally know that writing isn't something I can do fast. So, actually, since the summer break is coming up soon, and I'll have more spare time, I'll be updating once a week. :D Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	6. At Least Pikachu's Not Coming

**Here is the sixth chapter. :D**

**Disclaimer: I did not create Pokemon.**

**Anyhow | With that said | I hope you like this sixth chapter.**

******—-**

"Go, Meowth!" Jessie hollered.

"Okay, prepare for your demise, twerpokemons - Wait, what?!" Meowth screamed, "Jessie, how come you're so selfish, huh?! Sacrificing _me_ to all these pokemon?!"

"Well, Meowth, as you know, Team Rocket has always been all for one and one for all, and... this time, it's your turn," Jessie declared with a big lying smile.

'This is ridiculous. What are they even arguing about? When are they going to actually start fighting?' Heracross buzzed around.

'Well, why don't you go and start the fight instead of waiting?' Muk suggested.

'... ! That is _such_ a good idea!' Heracross's eyes lit up, 'Why didn't I ever think of this before?!' He turned around, directly facing Mewoth and Jessie and so forth, who were still debating useless matters.

"If you want to win for once, why don't _you_ go on and fight, eh?! Too scared?!" Meowth waved his arms like crazy.

"Well, you're the one who actually _can_ battle, not me!" Jessie snapped at him.

"Well, well, um, well, why don't you send _another_ pokemon out, then, if - ack!" Meowth was shot straight up into the air by Heracross's precise Horn Attack. The flying Meowth landed _extremely_ gracefully and elegantly, everyone was sure, flat on his face a few seconds later, but his poor reaction time made him victim to another blow of Heracross's horn. But, obviously, just like any other Team Rocket member, Meowth wasn't ready to give up just yet.

He jumped up back on his feet and ran with considerable speed towards Heracross, flashing and extending his sharp, rarely-used claws towards his opponent. Heracross didn't expect his speed to be this fast, and he was hit mercilessly by Meowth's Fury Swipes. A lot of times. Even his hard shell couldn't protect him that well.

Heracross knew that it was pointless to fight back during Fury Swipes. He waited until Meowth got tired, which wasn't that long, since he never really had any battle experience, and jabbed him with his horn sharply, causing Meowth to tumble back. Meowth's poor reflexes only made it easier for Heracross to punch him over and over again in the head.

"Nooooo~! Not my gem!" Meowth scrambled to cover the gem atop his head with his hands. He ran back to the now tattered and ruined meowthalloon, with the angry mob of pokemon right behind his tail.

Okay. _Now_ he was ready to give up.

"Useless!" Jessie snarled angrily, "I don't know _how_ many times that stupid gem of yours has ruined our great plans!"

"... W-well... if it's w-worth a lot, I w-would've done wh-what Meowth did, too. I think," James stuttered. Jessie hit him.

The group of pokemon fired all sorts of miscellaneous attacks at the Team Rocket trio, eventually...

"Team Rocket's blasting off again~~~~!"

'...'

'Well, that was, like, a total waste of my time,' Heracross said casually.

******—-**

Tracey worked the pokeball transfer machine in the lab.

"Hey, Tracey, do you hear that?" Ash asked over the video telephone.

"Huh?" Tracey looked over at the window, "Oh. It looks like a mob fight between the pokemon."

"Oh," Ash said.

"... Wait. What?" Tracey scrambled to the window. He was just in time to see three figues seemingly fly into the moon.

"So, what was it?" Ash inquired.

"Oh, you know, just Team Rocket trying to steal your pokemon again. Nothing too big of a deal. The usual," Tracey said blankly.

The humming stopped coming from the machine as a flash of white light lit up, and it went away, revealing the pokeball, which contained Ash's Pikachu.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!" Tracey yelled.

"Holy crap. Tracey. Too loud."

"I just realized something," Tracey said, "This is the first time I've seen Pikachu in a pokeball! Oh man. I've gotta draw this. Okay, where's my pencil..."

Ash sweatdropped. "You know, Tracey... you're just gonna draw a regular pokeball. Which you already drew 26 of before."

******—-**

'Hey, look. They forgot the pokeball that they stole, I assume,' Bulbasaur picked the pokeball, which had a medical cross sign on it, up.

'Let's check it out,' Totodile said.

******—-**

"So, how are my pokemon doing? Everything all right with -" Ash was cut off rudely by Tracey.

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fine. I mean. Great. Great. Yeah. Heh heh. Great. Yeah and also um balefevovetomegnium."

"What?"

"Um... Bayleef evolved into Meganium. And that's all that happened while you were away. Yup. Okay, bye Ash have an incredible time in Shinahh or something!" Tracey slammed the videophone off.

He and Professor Oak _did_ notice Sceptile's weird actions lately. And Tracey did not, ever, want to be the one to tell Ash that, and endure his unpredictable actions.

******—-**

Sceptile nearly dropped his jaws to the floor.

Cyndaquil squeaked, 'Isn't that Meganium?'

'No. I mean, yes, but, it's not Ash's Meganium, but it's still a Meganium,' Krabby explained.

'Let's try talking to it,' Glalie whispered.

'Stupid. It's a pokemon. It can understand us,' Swellow said, 'And besides, you shouldn't be the one talking to it. In fact, you shouldn't even go near it. Not with your Ice Beam.'

'Um. Hello. Uh. So. Where is this?' the stolen Meganium said awkwardly.

As everyone crowded around her asking questions about how she came here and what her name was and boring matters like those, Sceptile waited.

Well, he _hided_. Behind a tree. Which, quite frankly, concealed him pretty well. He prayed that this wasn't the Meganium he was thinking it was.

'So, Kenza...'

He froze. Someone just called her Kenza. Which meant his thinking was right.

'You can stay here while the Professor contacts your owner to come,' Corphish said.

'Yeah. After all, the property's open to any pokemon,' Muk said.

Sceptile fell on the ground. The Pokemon Center where Kenza came from was two days away. And every day with _her_ here would be like a day without food. Or something else that he can't live without.

Which means that he'd probably die if Kenza was going to be around.

Well, at least, she probably won't tell everyone... about... us...

'Pika pika! It's Pikachu! Ash sent me here to tell you guys about Sinnoh!'

And as everyone crowded around Pikachu, including Kenza, Sceptile kept hiding.

He really didn't need the only other pokemon who knew about this to come back.

******—-**

**Well, that's it for this chapter. I'm really sorry for taking two weeks to update! I found it really hard to make this chapter for some reason. Oh well. Maybe it's writer's block or something?**

**Anyways, please let me know if I have any writing mistakes or grammar mistakes, or if you have any suggestions to my writing, in the reviews!**

**:D Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


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